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Mo. toddler dies from hyperthermia while parents do meth

On Dec. 18, Lucas Russell Barnes, 25, and Kathleen Peacock, 22, put their 2-year-old son Braydon Barnes in a back room at their St. Charles mobile home, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The parents then turned a space heater on and left the room to go do meth over the weekend, police said. A court record claimed no one checked on the toddler until Sunday at 11 a.m. and found their dead child.

Baby Braydon died from hyperthermia in his crib, an autopsy showed.

Paramedics learned that the child had been dead for a while, court records revealed.

Peacock told investigators she heard her son making noises from the room, but decided against checking on him to get high.

“This is a sad example of people who are incapable of being a parent to a children,” St. Charles County prosecutor Tim Lohmar said. “I’d love to tell you this is the worst case we’ve ever seen, but it’s not.”

Police said the very thin boy was extremely malnourished and didn’t eat for at least two days.

The mobile home, which was also a suspected meth lab, was covered in absolute filth when police arrived.

The prosecutor told reporters there were “feces in places where it shouldn’t be” and “a lot of dishes.”

The trailer was declared uninhabitable because of its disgusting conditions.

Peacock already faced a child endangerment charge in August after allegedly drunken driving with the boy in the car. She is also currently pregnant with another child.

Barnes and Peacock are charged with felony child abuse and manufacture of methamphetamine in a residence with a child present.

If the parents are found guilty, they will spend 10-30 years in prison for each charge, and are held on $100,000 bail.

Braydon’s grandparent created a GoFundMe to cover the toddler’s funeral costs.